Mobile phone scam please read

Like many parents my 13 yrs old son has a mobile phone in my name.Phine is £8.50 a month and went on line today to look at his bill.I was shocked to see this was £28.At first i thought he had been dialing premium rate calls or d/l ringtones etc but it appears that he ha been the victim of a scam.What they do is phone your number then hang up. He then saw a missed call and was curious and phoned back several times which resulted in a bill of £19.50. The number is 07033339031, so be warned if you see this number as a missed call under no circumstances call it back or you could be paying out lots of money for nothing.My mobile company told me that they cant barr this number and thta we are responsibke for the bill.
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Comments

  • sporedude
    sporedude Posts: 1,563 Forumite
    To be fair you are responsible for the bill.
  • gromituk
    gromituk Posts: 3,087 Forumite
    Common scam which every parent should tell their children about. If someone wants to contact you they'll leave it for long enough for you to answer, or leave a message.
    Time is an illusion - lunch time doubly so.
  • OneADay
    OneADay Posts: 9,031 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    I made a complaint to Ofcom about 070 numbers (personal numbers) and received a reply saying.

    "Ofcom is responsible for allocating 070 number ranges as well as the policy involved in their use. However, PhonePayPlus (PPP) is responsible for the content and advertising of 070 number offering premium rate style services. For further information or to make a complaint, you can contact PPP at:

    PhonepayPlus
    Clove Building
    4 Maguire Street
    London
    SE1 2NQ
    Tel 0845 026 1060
    http:/phonepayplus.org.uk
  • Inactive
    Inactive Posts: 14,509 Forumite
    Perhaps a PAYG phone may be more appropriate.;)
  • wantmemoney
    wantmemoney Posts: 836 Forumite
    edited 16 August 2009 at 1:08PM
    Like many parents my 13 yrs old son has a mobile phone in my name.Phine is £8.50 a month and went on line today to look at his bill.I was shocked to see this was £28.
    Karl you and your son have been victims of an ongoing mass marketed fraud. Criminals are using Automatic Dialing Equipment to call millions of phones to leave these missed calls. If the numbers are called the victim will hear a recording of a dialing tone not realising they have been connected (and being charged 60p/call and 60p/min ).
    http://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/07033380005
    07033380005 phone number comments:
    Abby- 12 Aug 2009
    I have had 2 calls from 07033 380005. I tried ringing it back but even though it didn't connect, my call counter was going up. I rang Orange tonight and found out that 2 calls I made to the number (15 seconds and 6 seconds respectively) had cost me over £1. They have refunded this but please be careful and DO NOT RING THIS NUMBER BACK!!!
    070333xxxxx numbers belong to Cheers International. They account for almost a third of all missed calls using 070 numbers.
    http://whocallsme.com/Phone-Calls.aspx/070
    This Network Operators like Vodafone share the revenue with Cheers. They are making millions and the regulators are turning a blind eye to the fraud and a deaf ear to the complaints of the victims.
    http://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/07033376934
    07033376934 phone number comments:
    - 30 Dec 2007This No calls at all time of day and night phone only rings for 1 ring then shows missed call on your phone in last month have had 12 calls WHO are they??????
  • Thanks for all the replies. seems like this is a "legal" if not highly imoral scam. I will write to the various watchdogs but won't hold my breath. also if Virgin Media are alo making money out of this I will try and badger them to remove the chrages. It's amazing how persuausive an argument for removing these charges can be faced with the throught of losing best part of £800 from one customer can be.
  • Jon_01
    Jon_01 Posts: 5,914 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    I've never understood this need to call back numbers that you miss picking up ?

    If it anything worth while they'll call you back. . .
  • I agree Jon, but you got to remember the actions of a 13yrs old boy who would hate to miss a call from a girl who may fancy him is far too strong a temptation.
  • gem599
    gem599 Posts: 217 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    Just to say this is still going on... had a call from 07033 322482 today and it only rang 3 times before it hung up and registered as a missed call. Thanks to you good people I didn't phone them back!
  • DarkConvict
    DarkConvict Posts: 6,346 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    If i miss calls i ring back, but one of my friends rings from 5-6 different numbers so i always assume it is him and it always has been so far.

    Ill be more careful, i just wish all 07 numbers were mobiles, no question.
    Although no trees were harmed during the creation of this post, a large number of electrons were greatly inconvenienced.

    There are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies
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